Nigeria Customs, in recent times, has been blessed with the new CEMA ACT, 2023, and the essence of the new law is to redefine the modus operandi of the Customs in line with the realities of the global community. The ACT provides for a robust reform of the administration and management of Customs and Excise in Nigeria, thereby creating a balance between revenue generation and trade facilitation.
The Nigeria Customs’ value of goods in the past has been focused on revenue generation, with diminutive attention to trade facilitation, and consequently, it encouraged a whole lot of unwholesome practices in which any proper officer may, at will, raise a query on the value of transactions arbitrarily and discretionarily. Then we had what was called the Nigeria Customs Service Current Value Range Data for General Goods; it was a value check manual endorsed by the management of the Customs that dictates the value of a lot of goods. Apart from the fact that it negates the open market system and trade liberalisation, it did not take into account global market dynamics and the attendant constant changes.
The former and unseemly valuation system encouraged countless and counterproductive practices that made the business communities globally perceive the Nigeria Customs Service as one of the most corrupt because the actions of officers were not regulated, and any proper officer could decide at will what the price of goods should be.
The signing into law of the new CEMA ACT, 2023, was a welcome development because it addressed most of the negative vices that have bedevilled the operations of the Customs Service. It has, to a very reasonable extent, reduced the supreme-like nature of personnel of the service, though it is supposed to create a form of relief for the importing community. However, it is yet to achieve that because officers are yet to fully follow through with the implementation.
Regarding customs value, section 69 of the CEMA unambiguously spells out the nitty-gritty of the issue. It states that the primary basis for the customs value of goods shall be the transaction value; it defines the transaction value as the price payable or paid for the goods when sold for export to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In addition, it asserts that the transaction value can be questioned if the buyer and seller are related, with a definition of their relationship in the said section 69, subsection 5. It further recommends that if the transaction value is questioned, that of identical goods from unrelated buyers be applied; it emphasises the transaction value of identical goods imported about the same time and in substantially the same quantity.
Section 70 of the CEMA also emphasises the responsibility of officers in concord with section 69, but it submits that when more than one transaction value of identical goods is found, the lowest of such value shall be used to determine the customs value of the imported goods.
In practice, officers, for reasons best known to them, query the value of the transaction in which both parties (Exporter and Importer) are related, and they do the same for unrelated parties, with the assumption that prices of goods in question must be uniform across the board, regardless of timing and quantity, which is at variance with the provisions of the law.
This write-up is not aimed at maligning any particular character but at craving the indulgence of the management board of the Nigeria Customs to properly inform officers of the need to allow their sentiments to align with the provisions and position of the law to avoid the double standards of the past and reduce, to a reasonable extent, the unprofessional mode of attending to the business community.
Olubodun, a Historian, Policy Analyst, Project Management Consultant, and Director of MIRSS Cleaning Agency. He can be reached through [email protected].
